Kyle Shanahan is widely expected to become the 49ers‘ next head coach, and now some are beginning to wonder how he will go about filling out his staff. As Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee writes, it is unlikely that Shanahan will be able to bring many of his Atlanta assistants with him given that most of those assistants are under contract with the Falcons or are loyal to Falcons head coach Dan Quinn. However, Barrows posits that Shanahan could bring current Atlanta quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur to the Bay Area and install him as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator. LaFleur — who would also be a candidate to replace Shanahan as the Falcons’ OC — has worked with Shanahan for eight seasons in Atlanta, Washington, and Houston.
- Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley was close to being traded or cut during training camp, reports Gil Brandt of NFL.com (via Twitter). The fear of being let go apparently motivated the former first-rounder, as Beasley finished the season with 39 tackles, 15.5 sacks, and six forced fumbles.
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- CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora would be “very, very surprised” if Chip Kelly ultimately replaces Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (Twitter link). This move would have been a bit ironic, as Shanahan is set to replace Kelly as the head coach of the 49ers. Instead of moving to Atlanta, La Canfora suggest Kelly could catch on with the Patriots as a consultant/assistant.
- Speaking of Shanahan, Falcons coach Dan Quinn says the coordinator is set to meet with the 49ers on Saturday. “I’m really proud of him because it’s not easy to do when there is a lot of speculation and things going outside of your world to stay dialed in,” Quinn said (via Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “It’s one that should be commended. Being on point and going for it, he totally nailed that.”
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The Falcons are getting a head start on replacing offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who is likely to become the next 49ers head coach. Atlanta is already lining up candidates for OC, and the club has expressed interest in former San Francisco/Philadelphia head coach Chip Kelly, according to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Falcons To Pursue Matt Ryan Extension]
Kelly has met with at least one club since being dismissed by the 49ers, interviewing with the Jaguars about both their head coaching vacancy and their offensive coordinator position. Both of those roles were filled by internal candidates, as Jacksonville promoted Doug Marrone and Nathaniel Hackett to head coach and OC, respectively. Kelly also planned to meet with the Patriots and friend Bill Belichick, and was indeed spotted at Thursday’s practice session, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.
Kelly, 53, posted a mixed record during his two head coaching stints, but does seem to want to remain in the NFL as an offensive coordinator. Despite poor results during the past few years, Kelly can still point to 2013 — his first season in the league — as a success after directing the Eagles’ offense to a No. 3 DVOA ranking and coaching quarterback Nick Foles to a 27:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Concerns about the quick pace of Kelly’s offense, and its negative effect on his club’s own defense, could continue to hinder Kelly’s job prospects, however.
While other potential candidates for the Falcons OC job aren’t yet known, internal options could include quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur and offensive assistant Mike McDaniel, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com noted earlier this month.
The Falcons and quarterback Matt Ryan are expected to explore an extension in the offseason, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Ryan is already under contract through the 2018 season, but Atlanta wants to be proactive when it comes to their star signal-caller, who may earn his first MVP award this year.
Ryan signed a five-year, $103.75MM deal at the end of the 2012 campaign, which culminated in a heartbreaking loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. The following three seasons saw the Falcons fail to qualify for the playoffs, and Ryan himself played well enough, but he was certainly not in the MVP conversation.
But Ryan and the offense exploded in 2016, Kyle Shanahan‘s second year as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator. Ryan threw for nearly 5,000 yards and put up 38 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions, good for a league-leading 117.1 quarterback rating. More importantly, he led the club to an NFC South title, a first-round bye, and the chance to play for the team’s first Super Bowl championship.
Plus, a new contract would not adversely impact the team’s finances. Ryan’s 2017 cap number under his current deal would be $23.75MM, and an extension would likely reduce that figure. As Rapoport observes, the club is already paying the Boston College product over $20MM a year, so an extension would be “more of a continuation than a dramatic adjustment.”
Ryan and agent Tom Condon will likely attempt to eclipse Andrew Luck‘s new deal, which features an average annual value of $24.59MM. Since signing his own contract after the 2012 season, Ryan has slid down the ranks and is now the 11th-highest paid quarterback in the game. That is likely to change over the next few months.
Since entering the league as the third overall pick of the 2008 draft, Ryan has been a steadying influence under center for Atlanta, but one of the biggest knocks against him coming into this year is that he had won only one playoff game. But on the heels of a breakout season, Ryan has the Falcons trending upwards once again, and he will be handsomely rewarded.
Before he withdrew from San Francisco’s general manager search Friday, Packers player personnel director Brian Gutekunst had been the favorite to land the job “for two weeks,” a source close to the 49ers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle).
Eliot Wolf, another member of Green Bay’s front office, preceded Gutekunst in pulling out Thursday despite being a finalist for the position in San Francisco. The decisions Gutekunst and Wolf made don’t necessarily reflect poorly on the Niners, though, as a source close to the two told Jason Cole of Bleacher Report that “other factors” outside the team’s control led to their exits from the derby (Twitter link).
With Gutekunst and Wolf out of the picture, the GM-less 49ers could target Falcons director of football operations Nick Polk, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Polk is familiar with soon-to-be 49ers head coach and current Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, having worked with him in Atlanta the past two seasons. Speculatively, that could give Polk an advantage over the 49ers’ other GM candidates if they do pursue him.
As of now, San Francisco is set to conduct a second interview next week with Vikings assistant GM George Paton. Cardinals vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough and Jaguars director of player personnel Chris Polian are also possibilities for the 49ers’ GM role. The team hasn’t yet scheduled a second meeting with McDonough, however, and it hasn’t met with Polian at all.
- The Falcons probably won’t let offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan take any of their position coaches with him if he accepts the 49ers’ head coaching job, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com hears (Twitter link). Maiocco reported Wednesday that Falcons secondary coach Marquand Manuel was a candidate to become Shanahan’s defensive coordinator in San Francisco, but that now appears unlikely.
The NFL Players Association has announced all 32 teams’ salary cap carryover amounts for the 2017 season (Twitter link). Next season’s cap figure isn’t yet known, but it’s likely to be in the $165MM range. When that becomes official, it can be added to each team’s carryover amount to determine that club’s official spending room for 2017.
Here are this year’s carryover totals:
- Cleveland Browns: $50,123,269
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $39,314,310
- San Francisco 49ers: $38,708,916
- Tennessee Titans: $24,046,522
- Washington Redskins: $15,055,131
- Carolina Panthers: $13,208,020
- Miami Dolphins: $8,363,708
- Chicago Bears: $8,103,197
- Oakland Raiders: $8,000,000
- Green Bay Packers: $7,984,687
- Philadelphia Eagles: $7,933,869
- Denver Broncos: $7,243,248
- Indianapolis Colts: $6,614,106
- Cincinnati Bengals: $6,578,866
- New Orleans Saints: $5,754,000
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $5,330,779
- New England Patriots: $5,292,335
- Kansas City Chiefs: $5,002,168
- Houston Texans: $4,935,924
- Detroit Lions: $4,725,644
- Arizona Cardinals: $4,405,068
- Pittsburgh Steelers: $3,269,367
- Buffalo Bills: $2,837,222
- Baltimore Ravens: $2,553,126
- Dallas Cowboys: $2,401,553
- Seattle Seahawks: $2,065,865
- New York Giants: $1,800,000
- Atlanta Falcons: $926,541
- Minnesota Vikings: $400,184
- New York Jets: $371,487
- Los Angeles Rams: $304,311
- Los Angeles Chargers: $113,693
- Falcons secondary coach Marquand Manuel could become the 49ers’ defensive coordinator under Shanahan, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com hears (Twitter link). The two are on the same staff now, of course, and Manuel garnered prior coaching experience in Seattle from 2012-15. The 37-year-old was an NFL safety from 2002-09.
As of Tuesday evening, Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan wasn’t a lock to accept the 49ers’ forthcoming offer to become their head coach. However, Shanahan’s now “almost certain” to take the job, reports Mike Silver of NFL.com.
With Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable having withdrawn from the race this week, Shanahan is the last man standing among the eight candidates the 49ers have interviewed. The rest have accepted head coaching positions elsewhere. Thus, in the unlikely event Shanahan turns San Francisco down, it would send CEO Jed York and executive vice president of football operations Paraag Marathe scrambling to hit the reset button on their search to replace Chip Kelly.
The 49ers are also on the hunt for a new general manager, of course, and lost one candidate when Cable’s Seattle colleague, co-director of player personnel Trent Kirchner, took himself out of consideration Tuesday. Of the GM possibilities the Niners have considered, Kirchner, fellow Seahawks executive Scott Fitterer and Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard would have preferred to work with Cable, according to Silver. The Chiefs prevented Ballard from talking to the 49ers, though, and awarded him a pay raise as compensation, Silver writes.
Cable has another fan in defensive coordinator-to-be Gus Bradley, who would have gone to San Francisco had it hired Cable. Instead, after Cable dropped out of contention Tuesday, Bradley spurned the 49ers when they asked if he’d be interested in teaming with Shanahan. It appears, then, that Bradley will become the Chargers’ D-coordinator.
Shanahan is currently preparing for Sunday’s NFC championship game between the Falcons and Packers. If Atlanta advances to Super Bowl LI, the 49ers wouldn’t be able to hire him until after Feb. 5. Regardless, he’ll have a second interview with the Niners next week and will discuss GM choices with team brass. Packers director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst remains the favorite, relays Silver, who adds that Green Bay director of football operations Eliot Wolf and Vikings assistant GM George Paton are also strong contenders.